Backing up my Laptop, HELP!

[Danpascooch]

I pride myself on knowing quite a bit about computers, I'm actually entering a computer related college major in about 3 days, so it's a bit embarrassing to ask this, but I could use some tips on backing up my laptop.

Specifically, I want to make an image (or clone) of 2 drive partitions (they can be separate images, I don't really care as long as I have both) and put those images onto an external hard drive.

I don't think I'll have any problem actually making the image, my main question is what external hard drive I should buy. The thing is, I know that some file systems cannot store files that are too large, and this is going to be probably about 500 gigabytes.

So I ask, what file system do I need to use for this? Can any file system handle that size in a single file? Or do I need to break the file into pieces? If so, is breaking a disc image into parts safe? and lastly, are there any limitations or considerations I need to make about disc image backups that I haven't mentioned? I should mention that what I want to back up is the total contents of my single drive, which is split into 2 partitions, I want this done in such a way that if I choose to restore from my backed up image, it will restore absolutely everything, Operating System and all.

I thank the community in advance for any help, I spent about a half hour on Google trying to research this, but didn't find the answers to my questions among the 10,000 results of "BUY OUR DISC IMAGE BACKUP PROGRAM!!!"

Thanks again, and the winner gets 10 (I REPEAT: TEN!) arbitrary points of arbitrariness!

 

[Sneaky-Pie]

You will need a hard drive that supports the NTFS file system. Most modern external drives come with that system as the default (some with FAT32) but if not, you can reformat it under Windows.

I believe that NTFS can handle any file size up to two terabytes. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this.

I cannot think of really any limitations other than getting a drive that can easily handle more than 500 GB of space. Get a terabyte drive for good measure. They're pretty cheap these days.

Another thing to consider is that backing up 500 GB will take a very long time. Especially using USB 2.0. Maybe look into a drive that's eSATA capable if your computer has those capabilities as well.

 

[Danpascooch]

DOUBLE POST ALERT!

 

[Danpascooch]

You will need a hard drive that supports the NTFS file system. Most modern external drives come with that system as the default (some with FAT32) but if not, you can reformat it under Windows.

I believe that NTFS can handle any file size up to two terabytes. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this.

I cannot think of really any limitations other than getting a drive that can easily handle more than 500 GB of space. Get a terabyte drive for good measure. They're pretty cheap these days.

Another thing to consider is that backing up 500 GB will take a very long time. Especially using USB 2.0. Maybe look into a drive that's eSATA capable if your computer has those capabilities as well.

Well, I know it will take a long time, but my laptop has USB 3.0 (thank god for ASUS) so it should take about 10-15% of the time it would normally take.

How long are we talking? Like, 10 hours on USB 2.0? So like, 90 minutes on USB 3.0?

 

[octafish]

Time will also depend on the software used. I recently cloned a 200Gb HDD onto a 500GB HDD using HD Clone freeware. It took 8 hours because the program is nerfed for freeware release. So yeah NTFS is what you want, though some drives will be formated in FAT32 becaue that is what Macs use and it is compatible with windows. Just re-format the drive and you will be golden. Buy a 750GB or 1TB drive,

 

[Sneaky-Pie]

You will need a hard drive that supports the NTFS file system. Most modern external drives come with that system as the default (some with FAT32) but if not, you can reformat it under Windows.

I believe that NTFS can handle any file size up to two terabytes. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this.

I cannot think of really any limitations other than getting a drive that can easily handle more than 500 GB of space. Get a terabyte drive for good measure. They're pretty cheap these days.

Another thing to consider is that backing up 500 GB will take a very long time. Especially using USB 2.0. Maybe look into a drive that's eSATA capable if your computer has those capabilities as well.

Well, I know it will take a long time, but my laptop has USB 3.0 (thank god for ASUS) so it should take about 10-15% of the time it would normally take.

How long are we talking? Like, 10 hours on USB 2.0? So like, 90 minutes on USB 3.0?

I have no idea about the speeds for a USB 3.0 device, but I'm pretty sure it will be substantially faster than 2.0.

 

[Danpascooch]

You will need a hard drive that supports the NTFS file system. Most modern external drives come with that system as the default (some with FAT32) but if not, you can reformat it under Windows.

I believe that NTFS can handle any file size up to two terabytes. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this.

I cannot think of really any limitations other than getting a drive that can easily handle more than 500 GB of space. Get a terabyte drive for good measure. They're pretty cheap these days.

Another thing to consider is that backing up 500 GB will take a very long time. Especially using USB 2.0. Maybe look into a drive that's eSATA capable if your computer has those capabilities as well.

Well, I know it will take a long time, but my laptop has USB 3.0 (thank god for ASUS) so it should take about 10-15% of the time it would normally take.

How long are we talking? Like, 10 hours on USB 2.0? So like, 90 minutes on USB 3.0?

I have no idea about the speeds for a USB 3.0 device, but I'm pretty sure it will be substantially faster than 2.0.

It's advertised as being 10 times as fast, that said, when you compensate for exageration, I expect it will be 6 or 7 times as fast.

 

[Danpascooch]

Time will also depend on the software used. I recently cloned a 200Gb HDD onto a 500GB HDD using HD Clone freeware. It took 8 hours because the program is nerfed for freeware release. So yeah NTFS is what you want, though some drives will be formated in FAT32 becaue that is what Macs use and it is compatible with windows. Just re-format the drive and you will be golden. Buy a 750GB or 1TB drive,

I'm sure I'll be able to get a paid version in a completely respectable and legal manner.....

Thanks for the tip though.